http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,16191754%5e15306%5e%5enbv%5e 15306,00.html Intelligence hard to crack Karen Dearne AUGUST 09, 2005
BUSINESSES are finding the $500 million local intelligence market difficult to crack, according to a report by the Australian Homeland Security Research Centre. The federal Government has allocated an extra $870 million to the nation's security and intelligence agencies since 2001, but private companies have struggled to win contracts because of traditional caution towards new faces in the sector. The centre's executive director, Athol Yates, says there will be more opportunities for companies to contribute services and expertise over the next few years, because of growing demand for intelligence and a shortage of resources. It would, however, be a slow and difficult task, he said. Agencies would not be quick or consistent in switching to private providers because of ingrained attitudes of secrecy and caution, Mr Yates said. "One factor is the isolated pockets of resistance in dealing with the private sector. "Their concern, once common in Defence, is that private companies only care about profit and meeting contractual requirements, rather than the capability of what is being delivered. "Others are cautious about engaging consultants and contractors, particularly for IT work, because they worry that it will highlight the pay rates and employment options in the private sector." The agencies were being forced into more information sharing and collaboration because of a recognition of interdependencies between information collection and assessment tasks, particularly concerning technology and data quality, he said. The considerable differences between agencies meant that companies should treat each as unique clients, and tailor the approach accordingly. "The benefit of winning work was generally restricted to the profitability of each project," he said. "Completing a project allows you to get your foot in the door, but does not make it much easier to win work from other areas or a different agency." It was essential to develop personal relationships with agency staff. "As officers seek out people who they feel most comfortable with, their preference is to deal with former agency personnel," he said. "Ironically, though, in some cases a track record of working with an agency is detrimental. "This is because of the remnants of an old culture of contrariness: a refusal to deal with certain companies or people." Information security firm Electronic Warfare Associates Australia provides services to a wide range of federal and state government agencies, but managing director Paul McMahon said it had found the local intelligence sector hard to get into. "There has been a slow evolution across government of getting used to the idea of not doing everything in-house," Mr McMahon said. "The intelligence community would be the last bastion of doing everything in-house. "There is no history of trusting external people, and quite an active history of not trusting anybody else." As a result, agencies had a limited perspective on a lot of issues. Mr McMahon said. "Getting some external opinions can broaden your horizons and bring different perspectives to situations," he said. "There's very little opportunity for that because they don't have a culture of outsourcing or using consultants for many of their activities. "We've got guys here with the highest level of security clearance, there's just no opportunities to use them." EWA Australia's parent company in the US "does a lot of work in the three-letter acronym environment", reflecting a more open marketplace. "The Americans have always had a culture of engaging with industry," Mr McMahon said. "They have industry people in the most sacred halls, because that's where the expertise lies. "They hire people in, and work as a government-industry team in a lot of areas." Brian Vernon, defence and intelligence general manager for geographic information systems provider ESRI Australia, said the company's spatial data software had great potential for use in homeland security. "To us, GIS is an enabling technology for protecting life, property and critical infrastructure, whether that's a tank or an airport, a utilities company or a water treatment plant," he said. ESRI had noted a cultural commitment to change in the intelligence community, Mr Vernon said, but companies needed to share responsibility in making decisions. "Everyone wants to get on the homeland security bandwagon, but some of the kneejerk reactions we've seen have actually slowed down the process," he said. The Australian ------------------------ Yahoo! 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